Haven't read it but I guess it's a hoot:
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void - Mary Roach

I've read her book Stiff, it's about all the different avenues your corpse can take after your demise.

I think Mary Roach is a science journalist, so these'd just be quick light interesting reads.

lol, I wouldn't imagine you could get Look Around You on dvd, I bet that's great during when her class needs a substitute or something.

How about something by Connie Willis? She does sci-fi comedy, with an historical bent. To Say Nothing of the Dog and Doomsday Book are both great.

Also, your mother-in-law sounds pretty cool.

Bill Brysons a short history of nearly everything. It goes from the big bang to modern day on a path of who figured out stuff who was overlooked who stole whose ideas whose small idea at a dinner conversation drove someone else for a lfete and who was eventually proved right

It's fascinating reading even for the non scientifically bent, and while technical it's written more like a story than a textbook, the narrative is fun like you're overhearing gossip about famous scientists.

If your mother in law is fond of audiobooks I'm pretty sure there is a version that bill Bryson reads himself and since he's the author he knows where all the dramatic pauses and "wait for it" moments are

It's some of the most entertaining and palatable "learning" I've stumbled across and is well loved by both scientifically bent and those who can't keep timelines straight to save their life. My dads a geologist and this is one of the few books I've gotten him where he learned some stuff or was able to expound on areas of the text and I didn't feel lost, it started a ton of conversations afterwards ( and I got him back years later with brysons at home which is a similar style but about the evolution of the rooms in the houseand their impact on history, equally as fascinating)

"The Stepford Wives" by Ira Levin. It would be very interesting to hear what her reaction to this book about being female in the early 70s is.